i6o NEIGHBOURS UNKNOWN 



was out of sight in an eye-wink, leaving his 

 would-be gaolers to express themselves 

 according to their mood. When he came to 

 the surface for breath, he was a hundred yards 

 away, and on the other side of the boat, and 

 as he thrust little more than his beak and 

 nostrils above water, he was not detected. 



A few minutes more, and he was laughing 

 derisively from the other side of the islet, 

 swimming in safety with his mate and his 

 two energetic chicks. Nevertheless, for all 

 his triumph and the discomfiture of his foes, 

 the grim experience had put him out of con- 

 ceit with the lake. That same night, when 

 the white moon rode high over the jagged 

 spruce ridges, a hollow globe of enchantment, 

 he led his little family straight up the river, 

 mile after mile, till they reached another 

 lake. It was a small lake, shut in by brood- 

 ing hills, with iron shores, and few fish in its 

 inhospitable waters, but it was remote from 

 man and his works. So here the outraged 

 bird was content to establish himself till the 

 hour should return for migrants to fly south. 



